Prof. Dr. George Coukos, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), University of Lausanne (UNIL) and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) Prof. Pierre-Yves Dietrich, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG)
Prof. Doug Hanahan, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
* The pictures contained in this article represent the AGORA building viewed from different angles.
HUG and EPFL signed in 2016 a memorandum of under-standing to develop such a partnership. The SCCL further includes the participation of privileged partners, i.e. the ISREC Foundation and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR). Finally, the SCCL will include the Ré-seau romand d’oncologie, a clinical oncology network es-tablished in the French-speaking Switzerland to encom-pass all medical oncology practitioners in the community and the two university hospitals. The SCCL is led by an Executive Committee composed by Professors George Coukos, Douglas Hanahan and Pierre-Yves Dietrich.
Introduction
This is a landmark year for oncology in the Lemanic re-gion, with the official launch of the new Swiss Cancer Center - Léman (SCCL) and the opening of its flagship building, AGORA. SCCL aims to establish a highly in-tegrated, multidisciplinary and collaborative cancer re-search and clinical community focused at fundamental and translational cancer research investigating and solv-ing urgent cancer problems through the development of new therapeutic strategies in concert with rapid and ef-fective translation to the clinic. UNIL, CHUV, UNIGE,
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SWISS CANCER CENTER LEMAN
Today, the five-institution consortium features at least 80 cancer research groups, whose activities span basic, trans-lational and clinical research, while the innovative new clinical network of oncology includes over 100 oncologists with the intent to collaborate in guiding optimal thera-peutic decisions for cancer patients, coordinating clinical trials and implementing «precision oncology» for the re-gional population of approximately 2 million people.
Driving integrated cancer research and collaborative ef-forts within this uniquely diverse and complementary community is a key priority of the SCCL to create syn-ergies, unparalleled opportunities for discovery, and pave the way for the development of innovative science and its translation to the clinic.
The SCCL is therefore set to achieve the following specific goals: I) Therapeutic innovation, i.e. developing new an-ticancer technologies in particular in the areas of tumor immunology, immune engineering and immunotherapy, precision radiotherapy and nuclear medicine, together with testing new mechanism-guided cancer therapies through clinical trials; II) Cancer detection and preven-tion, i.e. understanding and reducing environmental, be-havioral or genetic risk factors, boosting immunity, and developing new technological methods for early tumor detection; III) Multidisciplinary research that fosters syn-ergy and integration across basic, translational and clinical cancer research frontiers, and IV) Inspirational training that supports the career development of the next genera-tion of cancer research scientists, cancer bioengineers and cancer clinicians.
The AGORA building
Slated to be launched in November 2018 after the inau-guration day on October 3rd 2018, the AGORA trans-lational cancer research building will be the flagship of the research and therapeutic development activities of the SCCL. Built thanks to an 80 million CHF financial in-vestment by the ISREC Foundation and designed by the German architect Stefan Behnisch, the rather spectacular and visionary four-story building harbors a flared struc-ture from the floor to the roof with no right angle, and fits harmoniously the space between the Pathology Depart-ment building of the CHUV on one side, with which it is joined by a glass-roofed large atrium, and a natural urban forest on the other side, above which spectacular views of the city and the lake can be captured.
Inside, the building offers 5000 m2 of equipped research laboratory space and 2900 m2 of advanced facilities, all dedicated to translational and interdisciplinary research.
By stimulating the transfer of a scientific discovery made in the laboratory to concrete clinical applications and
rap-id benefit to the patient, translational research will bring innovative therapeutic approaches to the bedside. With its strategic location on the hospital campus, and direct connectivity with the Institute of Pathology through an atrium, AGORA is positioned to accelerate the develop-ment and delivery of state-of-the-art therapies to the pa-tients both nearby and afar.
The AGORA building will welcome around 250 trans-disciplinary researchers including fundamental cancer biologists, cancer immunologists, clinician-scientists, bioengineers and bioinformaticians from different de-partments of UNIL and CHUV as well as the LICR, from two EPFL Institutes, the Swiss Institute for Experi-mental Cancer Research (ISREC@EPFL) and the Insti-tute of Bioengineering (IBI), and groups from UNIGE and HUG. This clustering of inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional cancer research competences under one roof is visionary, making AGORA an incubator for innova-tion. The teams will be distributed over three floors of laboratories programmed into thematic «research areas».
This thematic organization will also accelerate the de-velopment of new, more effective and targeted therapies for patients.
© Laurianne Aeby, SAM-CHUV
SWISS CANCER CENTER LEMAN
AGORA was designed to promote interactions. The
«open» interior architecture of AGORA will enable and foster formative collegial interactions in artfully designed
«bumping spaces» where researchers meet by plan or by chance, as they sit at the café for example, or transition through the building. An expansive atrium will also en-courage communication via planned or accidental encoun-ters. In addition, the open/contiguous research laboratory spaces were designed to ensure seamless integration be-tween research teams of complementary expertise, allow-ing informal meetallow-ings to take place. Importantly, vertical interactions between floors – inconvenient in traditional building designs – will be facilitated by invitingly open staircases that connect the three research floors. Offices are clustered to enhance interactions among leading investi-gators, and generous space is dedicated to clinicians and bioinformaticians. Importantly, an additional key compo-nent of AGORA is that it will provide «hotel lab space»
throughout the building. This protected space will be purposely located between larger permanent labs, in such a way that the temporary occupants of this lab space will be fully integrated scientifically and will have access to shared equipment on the floor. For example, this space
will be useful to host junior faculty transitioning to in-dependence, who can benefit from close interactions with and mentorship from the established PIs present in the AGORA. In summary, AGORA will offer a rare proxim-ity between leading complementary labs and afford excep-tional opportunities to the scientists to reshape their re-search and launch innovative intra- and cross-disciplinary collaborations on specific themes.
• The scientific programs and technology platforms The scientific research programs at AGORA will focus on the molecular mechanisms of tumor biology, in particular the immunology of tumors, and will leverage the explora-tion of the immune system as a powerful therapeutic weapon against cancer. The mission at AGORA is therefore to create both a scientific and a clinical impact. The success of these programs will rely on the seamless integration between basic and translational research, the development of new technol-ogies and therapeutic concepts, and clinical analyses.
The research programs in the AGORA, supported by cut-ting-edge technology platforms, will focus on the follow-ing disciplines:
• Tumor Microenvironment and Therapeutic Development
This program will seek to investigate the complex interac-tions of tumor stroma and host immune cells with tumor cells, and understand how healthy host cells are recruited, corrupted and induced to support tumor progression and resistance to current therapies. The knowledge acquired will trigger translation into therapeutic strategies target-ing mechanisms at the tumor microenvironment ustarget-ing preclinical models. New knowledge-based rational com-binatorial therapeutic approaches will be investigated in a variety of solid tumor systems, with the aim of developing new clinical solutions for patients. The close collaboration of cancer biologists, immunologists, bioengineers, mo-lecular imaging experts, clinician-scientists, bioinforma-ticians and systems computational biologists will be key to accelerate discovery and clinical translation.
• Human Tumor Immunology Discovery and Bioengineering
In an integrated research approach, this program will bring together researchers from the Lausanne branch of the Ludwig Institute at UNIL and CHUV specializing in cancer immunology, bioengineers from EPFL, and bio-informaticians, who will focus on human tumor immu-nology and T cell dysfunction with the ultimate goal of developing new T cell therapies.
The program will integrate the following three themes:
– Systems human cancer immune biology: when cancer biol-ogy and immunolbiol-ogy meet biocomputation
© Laurianne Aeby, SAM-CHUV
SWISS CANCER CENTER LEMAN
Biologists and bioinformaticians will work together to provide a thorough and systematic answer to the ques-tions raised about the function and interdependence of tumor cells, their microenvironment and the immune response focused on human tumors. This research will encompass in-depth high dimensional interrogation of human tumors, their microenvironment and the im-mune response, the understanding and circumventing of mechanisms of tumor immune suppression, the de-velopment of approaches to reactivate antitumor im-munity, and the elucidation of the interdependencies between cancer cell-intrinsic and tumor microenviron-ment mechanisms.
– Technology development: when cancer biology and immu-nology meet bioengineering
Immunoengineering will be a key area of research. Bi-ologists and bioengineers will collaborate to develop breakthrough bioengineering tools and apply these new technologies to tumor immunobiology, in particu-lar T-cell dysfunction in the tumor environment, aimed to correct and enhance their anti-cancer performance.
This will especially include the development of new in vitro tumor surrogate models for drug testing, the development of technology for deeper and accelerated interrogation of human tumors and their microenvi-ronment, as well as the development of culture devices to support personalized T-cell therapy.
– Immunotherapy: when cancer biology and immunology meet the clinic
The clinical impact will be explored here between sci-entists and clinicians with the identification of oppor-tunities such as the discovery of immunogenic tumor antigens applicable to the development of adoptive cell transfer therapy with T lymphocytes.
• Metastasis and Molecular Imaging
This program will notably be dedicated to the discovery and application of novel radiotherapy and nuclear medi-cine technologies to molecular imaging and therapeutic targeting of tumors, particularly metastases. Interdisci-plinary teams will therefore seek to identify new, more precise methods of diagnosis, monitoring and targeted treatment of metastases. Remarkably, targeted radio-nu-clear therapy will be combined with molecular nuradio-nu-clear- nuclear-based imaging (molecular nuclear theranostics) to offer new therapeutic solutions to cancer patients. This pro-gram will benefit from the expertise of research groups investigating the biology of different cancer types in AGORA and in SCCL. Cancer computational biology will be incorporated to provide bioinformatics support for data analysis, mining and algorithmic development.
• Precision and «big-data» Oncology
This program aims to integrate the personalization of on-cology treatments in the care of patients of the CHUV and the entire network in Western Switzerland (Suisse Roman-de). In order to predict the best strategic options for a giv-en patigiv-ent, this «big-data» clinical division will therefore develop cutting-edge machine-learning algorithms and bioinformatics infrastructures to collect, integrate, analyze and interpret high-dimensional data including clinico-pathological information, molecular data (genetics, genom-ics, proteomgenom-ics, etc.), laboratory results on mechanisms and vulnerabilities (sensitivity to drugs, etc.). Multidimension-al predictive biomarkers for immune therapies will be one of the prime focus of this program. The unit will consist of oncologists, bioinformaticians and software engineers as well as data processing specialists.
• The technology platforms
To support and ensure a successful running of the scien-tific programs, AGORA will host cutting-edge techno-logical facilities. These include:
– Platforms dedicated to new technologies being devel-oped by bioengineering laboratories from EPFL and to their collaborative projects with the cancer biologists and immunologists.
– A Mass Spectrometry platform for tumor antigen de-tection in personalized cancer immunotherapy.
– A Flow Cytometry Facility for cell sorting and both classical and imaging flow cytometry analysis.
– An in vivo Imaging Platform for high resolution in vivo preclinical research including MRI, micro-CT scanning, two-photon microscopy, stereotactic radiation etc.
– Cellular Imaging Facility, which will assist the re-searchers with additional imaging needs spanning wide-field fluorescence and transmission optical mi-croscopy, confocal mimi-croscopy, two-photon mimi-croscopy, light sheet microscopy, time-lapse and ion imaging, in vivo bioluminescence and fluorescence measurement in anesthetized animal, laser capture microscopy, and digital image processing and analysis.
– An AGORA In Vivo Center, a state-of-the-art facility for preclinical work and trials involving instrumental cancer models. This facility, designed to meet the re-quired veterinary regulatory standards for its operation, will actually house the above-mentioned in vivo Imag-ing Platform and be equipped with modern rack wash-ers, autoclaves, surgical suites, and general procedure areas.
In conclusion, the AGORA – as the flagship of the SCCL and a focal point of its operations – will enable exciting developments and advances in translational and clinical cancer research in order to deliver the latest innovative therapies to cancer patients. Seeking to promote scientific excellence worldwide, the SCCL at large and the AGORA in particular will unite cancer scientists into an integrated
«comprehensive» cancer research enterprise in Switzerland.
SWISS CANCER CENTER LEMAN
– A Mouse Pathology Facility providing expertise and equipment for histology, performing routine tasks like tissue sectioning and classical staining, as well as es-tablishing and optimizing project-specific histological methods, developing and delivering protocols.
AGORA, at the center of a global network
In addition to fostering scientific exchanges and interdis-ciplinary collaborations between its scientist residents, AGORA aims to explore complementary strengths and opportunities in building research partnerships with ex-ternal institutional departments from the Lausanne area as well as from other Swiss Institutes. On one hand, AGORA aspires to create a powerful interdisciplinary, interdepartmental and inter-institutional cancer research hub focused in significant parts on the breakthrough fron-tiers of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. On the other hand, AGORA also aims to catalyze important in-teractions across broad domains of medicine so as to accel-erate discoveries that can be complementary and synergis-tic to traditional therapeusynergis-tic modalities. In the same vein, AGORA will reinforce its interactions with the pharma industries as key partners for translational cancer research and drug and therapy development.
Correspondence:
George Coukos, MD, PhD
Professor and Director, Department of Oncology Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL)
Director, Lausanne Branch
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Chief, Service of Immuno-Oncology CHUV Rue du Bugnon 46 - BH09-701
CH-1011 Lausanne george.coukos@chuv.ch
© Matthieu Gafsou